


At the lush forest

by taotrooper



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Manga Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 13:46:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5588230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taotrooper/pseuds/taotrooper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After chapter 108. After leaving the tombs, the Four Dragons talk about the events transpired by the abandoned Seiryuu, particularly the new things they learned about Zeno that day. Later, the former tries to comfort a still shaken Shin-ah.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Night at the lush forest

Shin-ah fell asleep almost immediately after dinner. He had eaten the bear stew in silence, as usual, yet it was clear to all of them that he had something on his mind. Several times he attempted to raise his eyes, but words would die in his throat and he sank them lower with a rice ball or a spoonful of broth. Zeno couldn’t blame him. The boy wasn’t used to the glances his unmasked face was receiving, even though love and appreciation exuded from all of them. He and Ao curled up as soon as he was done. After all that ordeal, of course his body and his spirit would be beyond exhaustion.

It was fortunately a lovely night, not too cold and not too warm. It was excellent to sleep outdoors, as the men’s camping tent had been ruined by that Seiryuu from the past and they wouldn’t even dream to ask Yoon to fix it so soon. Zeno watched as Kija throughout examined the ground around the youngest dragon, in case insects had been crawling nearby. Once he was satisfied, he settled his bedding next to Shin-ah, white over brown, and he pet that short blue hair with his human hand. Jae-ha sat by a tree next to them and leaned his back on its trunk, under a dark canopy that was perhaps as green as his ponytail and his leg. The man seemed satisfied by the angelic scene unfolding close to him.

Zeno threw himself, blankets and all, by Shin-ah’s other side. He looked above at the glimmering stars before he moved closer and cuddled the sleeping young man. Ao made little sounds that might as well be squirrel snores, if such a thing existed.

The owls’ hoots and the crickets’ cries echoed through the quiet of the woods as a lullaby. After minutes –or hours– of peace, Zeno felt a sharp fingernail poking him on a shoulder.

“Zeno, are you tired?” he heard Kija murmuring.

“Of course I am, Hakuryuu,” he teased. “Too much of a busy day for an old man. All of Zeno’s bones are creaking!” Jae-ha chuckled from his tree.

“Be serious,” Kija pouted. “I can’t sleep at all.”

“Me neither.” Jae-ha wasn’t laughing anymore. “That place gave me the creeps. I imagine it could give nightmares to even a grandpa who’s seen a lot of crap such as you, Zeno-kun.”

Zeno didn’t say anything immediately. He took a deep breath. “No, I’m not particularly tired either… I am glad everyone is fine, though!” He grinned with honesty and appreciation.

“Yes. It’s a good thing…” Kija absentmindedly caressed Shin-ah’s head. More minutes passed before he talked again. “Hey, Zeno?”

“What’s the matter, Hakuryuu?”

“Well… When you fought that army, you said your arms were at least as strong as my dragon arm when your body has dragon scales.”

“Oooooooooh,” Jae-ha nodded. “Yeah, you said that. And your legs are as strong as mine. Naughty old boy, Zeno-kun. You shouldn’t deceive your handsome juniors.”

“Eh?” Zeno blinked. “That wasn’t a lie. That should be kind of the same level as you guys.”

Kija sat straight. From his position on the floor, Zeno could see the shameful blush on the young man’s pale cheeks. His stare was incriminatory.

“You _broke that wall_.”

“Ah, I did. So?”

“You don’t understand! Both Jae-ha and I tried to do that _multiple_ times.”

“At the same time, even, I must add. We together couldn’t do anything to it.”

“Not even a _scratch_ , Zeno! Those caves were made of some unbelievably hard stone. And you could break a wall! With only one punch! One of your arms is stronger than both my arm and his leg _combined_! Do you understand?”

Zeno felt like he had been punched himself. Those words made no sense. Him, _stronger_ than Hakuryuu and Ryokuryuu? But… but he was the weakling, the odd pickings. That sounded impossible. Suddenly Shin-ah’s fur looked so interesting.

“Zeno? Are you listening? We said that we know you are–”

“I heard,” he whispered. “Is that true?” Rhetorical question, since obviously Kija would never lie or joke about that. “I… I swear I didn’t lie. I didn’t know. It didn’t even occur to me it was likely.”

“Oh… Well, now you know you are.” Kija made a pause. “So you weren’t stronger than your brothers of the First Generation, to believe so?”

“Well, only one limb counting.” Jae-ha said. “Remember that he has four times that strength when all of his body is in that hard mode. That’s stronger than everyone ever.”

This conversation couldn’t be happening. But they asked, so he would answer.

“I have no idea. Sorry, Hakuryuu. I learned how to fully use my powers when the other Dragons had long left the Castle. I just figured it was the same amount of strength.”

“What…? So you never…?”

“I never fought alongside them, no. I had no way to compare myself… I apologize for shattering your image of us as an amazing team of four, but the King didn’t allo–”

Zeno hadn’t noticed when Kija had gotten out of his own bed and crawled to where he was, not until he felt warm arms surrounded him. Warm arms that clung to him intensely. He returned the hug, eyes wide open.

“Why are you apologizing?” Kija cried and made Shin-ah stir in his dreams. “What I imagined doesn’t matter anymore. Look, today I couldn’t do anything to help any of you. Shin-ah went through all that, you were kidnapped, Jae-ha was almost possessed by those spirits. I felt helpless and useless. The fact that you went through something similar yet much worse, for years and years…”

“Hakuryuu…” He’s too cute, Zeno thought.

“It just breaks my heart. I wish I could do something to help you.”

Zeno laughed and hugged him harder.

“This right now is helping lots, I assure you. I’m feeling so much better! And you did do something great today, you know.”

“I… did?”

“You did, so well. You reminded Seiryuu you love him. You stood up for him. You flew to us. You’re a good older brother and I’m sure he’s happy to have you.”

“Zeno…”

“He’s happy to have all of us as older brothers, you mean.” Jae-ha said from his spot. “Because you also did a great job today, Zeno-kun. Don’t put yourself down, you freakishly strong old man.”

Those words felt like Jae-ha had joined the hug in spirit. He was also so cute! The three of them were. Zeno closed his eyes and grinned wider.

“Thank you for the praise, thank you! Ryokuryuu worked hard as well.”

“I sure did. But Yona-chan and Yoon-kun saved us all in the end.”

“Yes, our princess and our mother.” The others joined Kija’s chuckles. Shin-ah didn’t wake up, but he moved closer to his brothers. Kija pulled him inside the hug.

Still with all this overwhelming happiness, something new bothered Zeno’s thoughts.

He wondered who would’ve won in a arm wrestle, him with scales or Guen. He had more muscular arms than Kija, so maybe that factors in his favor? Oh well, another enigma of many.

He giggled and closed his eyes and dreamed, not letting go of their embrace.


	2. Morning at the lush forest

It was dawn when Shin-ah slipped away from his fellow dragons’ embrace and walked out of the camp. However, one of his brothers was woken up by his movements. The short figure stretched his arms and his back and looked around. Kija and Jae-ha were still fast asleep. Zeno grabbed his scarf and hurried up to follow the boy.

The sky was painted with soft reds and pinks. They shouldn’t be able to see the sun from the forest, but Shin-ah still stared at where the horizon would be. Maybe he could, thanks to his powers. Maybe he was just trying. Or maybe he was looking for the moon instead. One could never know with Shin-ah.

In the end, Shin-ah looked away, right at the direction where Zeno was hiding. Golden eyes like the sun had seen a different gold in a different sunshine, one much closer to the earth. Oh well, it was impossible to play hide-and-seek with that child anyway.

“Good morning, Seiryuu!” Zeno chirped.

“…Good morning, Zeno.”

“You caught me, time for you to hide. Oh, perhaps you prefer to be alone?”

Shin-ah shook his head, his uncovered eyes looking down and avoiding Zeno’s face. Nothing wrong with that if that was just his usual shyness, but Zeno could tell it went beyond that. His smile faded.

“There’s something on your mind. Is there something you want to say aloud?”

“I want… to talk to Zeno…” Shin-ah finally said. “Alone. If it’s okay.”

“It is. It always will be.”

They sat on a fallen tree trunk. Zeno put on his scarf while he waited for Shin-ah to gather the courage. There was no hurry, after all; rushing the kid would only make him more anxious.

“Zeno. I am… so sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you… with my powers.”

So that was it. That was the thought that was eating him inside since the day before.

“That wasn’t you, Seiryuu.” Zeno’s tone was serene and tender. “Don’t feel guilty about it, okay?”

“But I let him in. I allowed him to use my body. He wanted to… to hurt you all.”

Zeno saw the shine of tears gathering inside the gorgeous dragon eyes. His heart jumped a little. He had to stop Shin-ah’s sorrow before he started crying. Could he do it? He wasn’t exactly Yona. This wasn’t something he could just juggled away with a game or a cuddle.

“I see, I see. Seiryuu, you’re so kind! You’re the kindest person.” He cupped Shin-ah’s chin. “I’m not mad at you, but if it gives you peace of mind? I forgive you, Seiryuu. We’re okay now.”

“Ah.” Shin-ah finally raised his feline-like eyes to meet Zeno’s own eyes and toothy smile. Calm skies met a relieved misty stare.

“And when I say Seiryuu, I mean not only you. The ghosts are forgiven. The one who was abandoned is especially forgiven. I wasn’t mad at them either.”

“No?” Shin-ah blinked. Zeno let go off his face and shrugged.

“Nope! I can understand why he did it. He had a rough life. Being trapped can make you a little crazy sometimes. It’s okay!”

Zeno unconsciously glanced at his teared right sleeve. Vague memories of himself waking up to robes turned to rags, to puddles of blood underneath him, to the medallion clutched inside his fist, and no recollections of anything but pain and anger. Being trapped can make you a little crazy sometimes. It’s definitely not okay. He forced himself to push those thoughts aside from his mind with new others, such as the lad’s screams the previous night when he saw that sleeve.

Shin-ah was also glancing at the sleeve. Again, he was gathering strength to talk.

“Zeno. I apologize, but… I saw and heard everything. What you told the previous Seiryuu. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I did anyway.”

Ouryuu felt a rock falling and sinking inside his guts. He had said some extremely personal things to that lost spirit; some were even the kind he never wanted his dear friends to hear.

“So you were awake, eh?” Zeno’s smile turned sad. “I thought you were sleeping inside.”

“No…” The golden eyes lost all their glow. “I won’t tell the others. You want us to cheer up all the time… but that will upset them.”

Zeno wasn’t surprised by those words. He knew Shin-ah was observant. He knew he was too sweet. Even if he didn’t have a gift with words, he had said exactly what he had to say. And the older man was thankful.

“Thank you. You’re adorable, you know that?” He saw that Shin-ah raised his eyebrows in confusion and incredulity. Zeno insisted. “No, you are, I assure you. But I’m terrible, making you so upset with my words to the other Seiryuu.”

“I–”

“You didn’t say it but you’re upset. And it saddens me. I’m the one who owes you an apology.”

Shin-ah shook his head furiously. “Don’t be sad, Zeno! Don’t… do that…”

“Eh? What thing?” Now it was Zeno’s turn to be confused.

“Don’t rip yourself to pieces like you said you did many times. Don’t do that again. Please, it’s sad… It hurts…”

A knot formed in Zeno’s throat. He wanted to cry. He wanted to laugh. And as he searched for a way to console the young man from the most transparent feelings he had seen in that face of moonlight, he realized something that amazed even himself.

“I won’t,” he affirmed with sincerity. “I don’t want to die now. I haven’t wished for my death in years. I have things to live for right now, so don’t you worry about me.”

And it was true. Since Yona was born, since he had met these dragons, he had looked forward to every tomorrow. And for the past months, they all had been his reason to feel happy once again.

“I’m glad…” And that was true as well. Shin-ah’s expression was new to Zeno, without that white cloud covering the full moon, but so easy to read regardless. Those were the mirror of the soul, they said.

“Look at you!” Zeno giggled. “Look at that smile full of love you’re wearing, Seiryuu!”

Shin-ah touched his own lips, bemused. He couldn’t find any curve. Zeno laughed harder.

“It’s in your eyes. I suspected so. The mask covers it, but your smiles, your frowns, your emotions, they’re all there. They don’t reach your mouth sometimes, but you do have many beautiful expressions of all kinds in them, don’t you?”

“…Oh.” Zeno took the distraction as a chance to tackle Shin-ah in a heartfelt hug that they both needed. The boy awkwardly returned the affection and put his arms around Zeno. Two lonely monsters, sharing the affection that should’ve died in them long ago but never did. Maybe he should’ve hugged the previous Seiryuu too, while he was still around. He probably needed one, the poor child. Oh well, the Miss had done it for him, and hers was a better job anyway.

“Let me tell you a secret, Seiryuu. This helps me a lot. Hugs and smiles and kindness.”

“…I’ll hug Zeno more often.”

Ah, yes, their child was back and sweeter than ever.


End file.
